Blue’s the ticket for VIP access to President

With thousands of people packed into the Village of East Davenport tonight to see Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle, how close you get to POTUS and FLOTUS is a matter of red or blue.

Red ticket holders like Larry Hunter of Rock Island showed up at the Village six hours before the presidential appearance, to get a prime spot.

”This is a big deal”, he said.

But it’s the blue VIP tickets that allow closer access to the President and First Lady.

Ron Schwener and his sister Windy Hildebrant were two of the lucky ones, with blue tickets in hand.

”I work in the building of Obama headquarters on Brady. I’m blessed to be offered VIP tickets”, said Schwener, even though he didn’t vote for Mr. Obama in 2008, and is still undecided about this election.

”I’ll keep an open mind and wait to see what he has to say today”, Shwener said. ”The economy’s the number one issue,” he said.

Businesss owner Tracy Pettett said she made friends with the right people, the advance team who she met earlier in the week.

”I was hobnobbing with the campaign people and they told me they ran out of blue tickets, but will usher me up front before the President starts to speak. It’s so exciting!”, Pettett said.